“I got my start in the hobby from a gift of a train set when I was 5 years old. My interest ... which we put under the tree,” says Eric White, editor of Model Railroader.

The model estimated the tree was most likely around 5,400 years old, Barichivich explained. The absolute oldest the tree could be was 6,000 years; there was about an 80% chance the tree was older ...